Members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe waited in the rotunda area inside the main entrance of the Wampanoag Government/Community Center building on Great Neck Road South on Saturday afternoon, April 21 for the arrival of Senator Elizabeth A. Warren.

The Senator’s car pulled up right on time at 3 PM. She shook the hands of the members who met her and was offered many hugs, as she greeted each person individually before being escorted to the Wampanoag Health Service Unit for a tour.

The purpose of Senator Warren’s visit was to tour the health service facility, and participate in a roundtable discussion (which was closed to media) on the Comprehensive Addiction Resources Emergency (CARE) Act which she and Representative Elijah E. Cummings (D-Maryland) introduced this week.

The opioid crisis which is devastating communities across the country has had a particularly severe impact on American Indians and Alaskan Natives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Senator Warren and Representative Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) introduced the CARE Act, which would provide the resources needed to begin treating the opioid crisis like the critical public health emergency it is. The CARE Act will provide states and communities with $100 billion in federal funding over ten years, including more than $800 million a year directly to tribal governments and organizations.

The CARE Act is modeled on the bipartisan Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act of 1990, which provided significant new funding to help state and local governments combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic.